Tags

Donald Trump Pulls Washington Post Press Credentials

Donald Trump’s presidential campaign has been one for the history books. Among a whole list of events that would leave campaign directors utterly shocked, at the top is his blatant attack against the media.

Now, many Trump critics first response to Trump’s attitude towards the media, is that this is an example of how he is a “dictator.” They site examples that the first thing a dictator does is go after the free press.

But is there such a thing as “free press” anymore, and was there ever? A recent event that immediately comes to mind is William Hearst’s use of yellow journalism. While this seems like an idea of the past, it has never really ended. We can point to almost every major political network, and then point to the owner, and see some sort of political agenda hidden beneath the articles and videos published.

With constant media coverage, news stations have become more like PAC’s then they have raw journalism. You know longer need to wait until 5 pm to find out what happened that day, or await the morning newspaper to find out the major headlines of the day. Because of this, news stations have to keep you engaged, and to do that, there comes an angle or an entertainment element to what is perceived as news.

Trump called CNN, “Clinton’s news network,” and in a way, he is right. CNN clearly gives Clinton the advantage. And while they do cover Trump, there is a way to cover him that twists to their own agenda. And it was discovered weeks ago that The Washington Post hired a whole team to dig up information on Donald Trump. Even the Huffington Post declared their allegiance when they decided early on in the primary to put Trump news under “entertainment” instead of politics.

While the media of course should be there to hold politicians accountable, they have to do this equally. Unfortunately, this is not always the case. To dig up information on one candidate is a clear bias. But this time, Trump has decided to call it out and exclude The Washington Post from his press. While there can be arguments on both sides of the issue, the crux of the problem remains the same: the media is biased.

Elephant News has always believed that it is nearly impossible to be completely unbiased when covering a political topic. Politics is too personal, with issues evoking too many opinions. The problem then is reporting it as “news.” News is considered to be a fact, and you cannot argue a fact. Thus, the divide in a common ground grows wider, and partisan issues become harder to agree upon.

Trump is not at war with free speech, but instead, with the bias that is now such a huge part of media. Until we can accept this, we can never fully be confident in our own beliefs enough to argue them, and maybe, change some of them.